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Hervé Yamguen

Histoire de têtes 3, 2018

Courtesy of the artist

Hervé Yamguen

Collection

Hervé Yamguen

Histoire de têtes 3, 2018

Bronze

36 x 25 x 24 cm

TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection

In Histoire de têtes 3, Hervé Yamguen weaves a poetic meditation on collective memory and spiritual metamorphosis. Cast in bronze, the sculpture takes the form of a semi-open dome, where human faces emerge and intertwine with organic forms. At its summit stands a whimsical figure—part human, part bird—balancing delicately, as if mid-flight or mid-thought. This gesture, typical of Yamguen's visual language, invites viewers to consider the thresholds between interior and exterior worlds, the physical and the mythical.

The work belongs to a broader reflection on the “history of heads,” which the artist approaches not as a linear chronology but as a layered archive of identities, dreams, and ancestral presences. The hollowed structure, pierced with openings and filled with gazes, suggests both a shelter and a vessel—simultaneously enclosing and exposing. It resonates with Yamguen's interest in the role of the artist as a witness, translator, and spiritual intermediary in society.

Made in 2018, the piece also reflects Yamguen’s renewed engagement with ritual and tradition following his designation as a notable in his ancestral village. Yet Histoire de têtes 3 resists nostalgia. Its hybrid forms and surreal vitality are rooted in the contemporary urban experience of Douala, where myth and modernity coexist in dense, often poetic, tension. This sculpture is less a static object than a narrative—one that speaks softly, through material and form, of memory, transformation, and the delicate ties that bind individual beings to the larger community and cosmos.

Related works in the collection

Hervé Yamguen Se Sauver, 2023

Hervé Yamguen L'arrière pays mental, 2023

Hervé Yamguen Histoire de têtes 3, 2018

Hervé Yamguen Prendre soin, 2023

Artists

Hervé Yamguen